New addition

If you haven't heard by now, we have a new addition to our family.  Wren Louisa was born on December 2, just in time for one of our first big snowfalls.  Since her arrival, she has been loved, kissed and hugged daily by her older siblings.  We have all been marveling over her tiny little person- all 5 lbs 13 oz of her at birth.  She has long fingers and toes, a small dimple on her left cheek (possibly the one Hanna left behind?), and quite a bit of blonde hair.  Elisabet wonders if she will have green eyes when she is older, although they are blue right now.  This is likely because we recently discovered that Elisabet's eyes are turning green so she inspects them daily to note changes.  She is quite pleased to discover something she shares with just mom.

Leif's 11th birthday and Christmas went by in a flurry.  We had a huge 18+ inch snowstorm the week after Wren came home and since then we have been digging out.  It looks to be a great winter for snow sports.  Leif, Hanna, Elisabet, Travis and Papa went skiing at Afton Alps and had a fantastic time.  Travis and Papa spent the day trying to keep up with them as they bombed down the hills.  They also all went ice skating at the local outdoor rink.  This weekend everyone will start nordic skiing with the MN Youth Ski League.  It will feel good to get back into skiing shape!

We celebrated an early Christmas with Travis's family and then we had the special treat of getting all the Haslers together at Christmas this year.  The three newest grandchildren got to meet one another, and we had several evening gatherings over great food and wine. It definitely seemed as if we had really multiplied this year!  But the chaos of all the cousins is lots of fun.

Here are some photos of the various events:

Wren's birth


Birthday and Christmas

Saying goodbye to summer

A late posting of pictures from our trip "up north" to the Gunflint Trail, a road that winds it's way through the Boundary Waters Canoe Area from Grand Marais.  The drive from Duluth north follows the shores of Lake Superior (Elisabet must have asked us 30 times "is this the largest lake in the world???".

We enjoyed spectacular views of the lake, the birch/pine forests and exploring the northern reaches of MN.  We even took our canoes across the Gunflint lake to a picnic spot in Canada.  The weather wasn't very summery, in fact it was extremely windy and cold, but we still managed to find plenty of things to do.  And we could always warm up from being outside by hopping into the Jacuzzi tub (or zoo-cozy as Elisabet called it).

A long overdue adventure

We're not sure how it happened, but we're a little embarrassed to have lived in Minnesota for 5 years (minus one of those in Switzerland) and never taken a trip to a lake cabin in the state.  So after a year of more "exotic" travels, we dedicated this summer to more local explorations.  First up was a trip to Lower Whitefish Lake north of Brainerd, MN with Papa and Nona, Aaron, Melissa and Jens.  Melissa's relatives generously let us stay in their lake house, newly built and beautifully situated on the peninsula.  The first day's weather was windy and cool, but that did not stop the kids from donning their swimsuits and jumping off the dock.  There was a great variety of floating rafts- alligator, turtle, lounge chair, etc to keep them occupied until the teeth chattering set in.  In addition to hours of swimming, we also tried out "Big Mable" an extremely large tube for pulling behind the boat.  The girls screamed for us to go faster while Leif shouted slow down.  Jens enjoyed watching all the action from the boat, although he also thought that caution was preferable to excessive speed.  All three older kids tried water skiing- Leif and Hanna were successful on their first try and skied across the lake on a pair of classic wooden skis.  Then uncle Aaron got up on the slalom ski to show them what they can aspire to.   Papa brought their kayaks and they were fun for exploring the shoreline and finding a quiet bay for fishing.  Travis caught quite a few fish, including a small muskie.  Everyone was successful in catching numerous sunfish, rock bass, and a couple large mouth bass.  Leif even learned how to remove the hook and get the fish back in the water all by himself.

The entire picture story can be found here.....



.... and for those of you surprised by the change in my appearance, it's a girl.  Due in December.  Jens is expecting a sibling as well (sex unknown) in September.  More adventures and an expanded 'cousie' club to be had in the future!

Cousins

Kate and Willa flew out from California to visit us last week.  What a fun time having all the cousins together to play.  Elisabet was excited to finally meet Willa "in human" rather than over Skype video chat.

They certainly all look related.....

and more.....

Willa's first visit to MN

Workin' the cattle

School is out and it's time for summer fun.  Our first trip was loading up the kids and aunt Gloria to drive to the ranch in Iowa and work the cattle.  Baby calves ranging from 1 day to 2 months old needed to be vaccinated and tagged.  Saturday started off with an early morning thunderstorm, 1 inch of rain and lots of lightening.  During a break in the rain, Craig headed up to the barn to get the cattle up into the sorting pens.  Four neighbors came with their horses and rounded them up- this was also the moment it decided to rain and thunder dramatically again, so we stayed in the house and watched from the window as the cowboys braved the inclement weather.

Each person had an assigned job:  Several men on horseback bring the cow and calf pairs into the first sorting pens, then a couple guys in that pen separate the cows out and funnel the calves into another pen, Cody gets the calves up and into the chute and calls out the sex, and Travis lowers the head gate on each calf (one at a time). Craig administers a couple shots, dewormer, and then tags their ear with a number- right ear for bulls, left for heifers.  Marta is in charge of filling up the syringes with dewormer and replacing needles, as well as recording the sex and ear tag number of each calf.  Leif started off loading the tag "gun", but then switched to helping Cody in the calf chute.  This is tough physical work and due to all the rain, extremely muddy.  After being slammed against the fence and having his feet trampled on by numerous calves, Leif decided to switch to manning the bar behind the calf.  Once the calf is immobilized by the head gate, Leif slid an iron bar behind them to prevent them from backing up or another calf from coming up from behind them when the gate was released at the end.  Gloria helped out as well with both these jobs, which was evidenced at the end by a coating of mud on all her clothes.  Hanna took on Leif's job of loading the ear tagger, and then relinquished it to Elisabet after about number 50.  Elisabet took her job so seriously she did not even take time for a joke or a smile.  During this whole process, cows are bawling for their calves and the calves are bawling for their mothers- it's nearly deafening!  120 calves (66 bulls, 54 heifers) and 3 hours later, we were finished.

photo slide show:

Spring time fun

New kittens, a trip to Madison, a birthday for Hanna, and homemade popsicles.  Enjoying spring in the upper Midwest.

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springtime fun

Spring on the Farm

For the long Easter weekend we drove to Iowa and spent time "ranchin", prairie burning, hiking and exploring.  Leif donned his cowboy hat and boots and went out every day 3-4 times with Craig to check on any new calves and to feed the 2 whose mothers were not being very attentive.  They would arrive back at the house and Leif would give us a run down on all the happenings.... i.e. "134 just isn't taking to her calf, we found #67 down in by the pond, #164 is a huge calf, and #162 her bag isn't looking full."

We burned a small patch of prairie and the kids had a fun time stomping out the edges with their boots.  It was a little wet, so the burn moved slowly and didn't go past the field, so it stayed well under control.  We had wet towels, shovels and also did a back burn to make sure it didn't spread into the neighbors pasture.

We also hiked around on our land and looked at the small patch of grasses and the soybean stubble. It should be ready to go for planting grasses and forbes on it this year as we work on turning it into more of a natural prairie.  We found a deer trail through the wet marshy area and we even have our very own appliance dump!

The first pictures in the album are of Elisabet riding her two-wheeler and Jens at Mattocks park near our house.

Life on the Farm

Olympians in training

We're having our own version of the winter Olympics here in St Paul.  The snow has provided us with some of the best skiing in years.  Between the good snow cover and now the ice we can ski, skate or slide. Leif has been participating in the MN Youth Ski League and Hanna and Elisabet have been on their skis as well.  On Saturdays the girls are taking skating lessons and on the weekdays they spend time in the neighbors yard "luging" or "skeleton" racing down the hill.  Leif and his friend Henry even 'snowboarded' down the backyard slide one day (I didn't learn of this luckily until after he was back inside, still all in one piece).

Here are some photos of the girls at Como park.

Skiing in Madison

A long weekend made for great skiing and fun in Madison.  We skied at Olin park near Minona on Saturday morning and all 3 kids enjoyed shushing down the hill by the parking lot.  On Sunday we spent nearly 3 hours at Governor Nelson park which had something for everyone.  Skate trails for Travis and me, skiing on the lake Mendota for Leif, Hanna and Papa, classic tracks and a playground for Nona and Elisabet and skijoring for Belle and anyone who was daring enough to be pulled.  It was a spectacular day of sunshine and mid 20 degree temps.

We had an eventful trip driving to Madison on Friday night when about 20 miles west of our destination the car ran out of gas.  Travis and I had been chatting away, oblivious to the gas light which must have been on for 40 miles or so.  We are chalking it up to our year of using public transportation and not having to worry about stopping to refuel.  By some miracle we were cruising fast enough to coast UP the off ramp, around the corner and then down a slight hill with three more turns into the Exxon station.  All of this with the engine completely off!  The store was closed, but the pumps were open.... the only other station was not open at all, so we were feeling very lucky indeed.

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Madison skiing

SNOW

This has been a fantastic year for snow in the Twin Cities.  I am taking full advantage of the nordic trails around the area- one close by our house at the Highland golf course.  Leif and I have been skiing on Sundays at Como Park and then I have been out to the Battle Creek Nature Preserve for several morning skis.  It's beautiful!

The kids are enjoying sledding off the hill in the yard and going down the slide in our backyard.  The swings are nearly sitting on the snow it is so piled up.

Elisabet is our budding chef.  She heads straight to the kitchen after preschool to make Travis a sandwich for lunch.  One evening she asked to make empanadas and did the dough rolling, filling, and egg brushing all on her own.  Today she is helping me with some red velvet cupcakes for Valentine's Day.

School and Birthdays

Life has been moving at a faster pace since we returned.  The days are more filled with activities:  school, piano, skating, skiing and violin.  Science fair projects and math homework are taking up time in the evenings.  Hanna and Leif are happy in their new classrooms and enjoying catching up with friends.

Elisabet has turned a corner and declared that she LOVES preschool because it is "so boring to stay at home".  We celebrated her 5th birthday on Friday and she has been wearing her fairy costume nearly every day this week.  Her inspiration came from attending the Children's Theater production of "Cinderella" with Papa and Nona.

We had a family reunion over the weekend to celebrate the birthdays of Elisabet and Papa (65!) and also a baby shower for Kate and Matt.  It was fun to think about how we were all together 5 years ago the weekend Elisabet was born in Washington.  And definitely exciting to think about the new little cousin that will be with us shortly.

More birthday pics here:
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Elisabet's birthday weekend

Settling In

Minnesota has greeted us our first week back with a deep freeze.  The last two nights were -14 F and today was a balmy 8 degrees.  I actually heard the weather announced on the radio as "a high of zero- not too bad".  It's all a matter of perspective.  I've been wearing my ski hit indoors to stave off the shivers.  The positive part is that it is beautiful and sunny.

Tomorrow the kids return to school.  Leif and Hanna to Capitol Hill and Elisabet to Jean Lyle preschool.  Elisabet is not thrilled and wondered several times today why adults get to stay home.

Our house is cozy and welcoming.  Here are some shots of the new arrangements and the snow piled outside.  It's impressively high.  Maybe if we get more I will lose my new white van in a snow bank?

Returning home